There are a handful of ways patient advocates may be compensated.
Work for a hospital, rehab center or other facility that hires patient advocates. Many have a customer-service type position. Some of these advocates have a background in social work or other forms of customer service. While they do trouble-shoot and solve problems for patients, many of their decisions must be made in favor of the facility and not necessarily in the best interest of the patient.
Work for an insurance company, usually an HMO (Health Maintenance Organization): Some of the managed care-type healthcare payer systems employ advocates. They may be called "patient advocates" or "case managers" (see Degrees or Certificates.) These advocates manage navigation of the system for difficult medical cases. Their primary job is to save the payer money, but they may also be helpful to patients who are having trouble figuring out where to turn.
Work for a not-for-profit disease or condition organization: Those who work within these organizations are often patient advocates at heart, although their jobs may look more like fund-raising or patient education. This work may not be the classic one-patient, one-advocate model, but is still a form of advocacy.
Work for a government entity: Patient advocates or case managers work for state health systems usually in a nursing, or social work/human resources capacity. Most of the support is provided to patients who rely on Medicare, Medicaid or other state-run systems to pay for their healthcare.
Work for yourself. Start a patient advocacy business.
Beyond needing patient advocacy skills, starting your own patient advocate business will call on additional attributes and skills that you may find wonderfully rewarding. There are specific steps to take related to building a successful patient advocacy business.
